It has been announced that Alice Waddington is set to direct the upcoming live-action Netflix adaptation of the popular comic book series Dept. H. Originally reported by Deadline, Waddington, who recently made her directorial debut at 2019's Sundance Film Festival with Paradise Hills, will be directing the adaptation of the well-received comic series.
Screenwriter of the film adaptation of The Maze Runner, T.S Nowlin, will be writing the script with Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg, and Paul Schwake of Dark Horse Entertainment set to produce.
Dept. H is originally a comic book series that began in 2016 written by and illustrated by Matt Kindt and colored by Sharlene Kindt. The series is about the mystery surrounding the death of a scientist aboard a deep-sea research facility. The scientist's daughter is sent underwater to investigate the death of her father. It is a race against the clock for her attempts to solve the murder and the true purpose of the station along the way.
This film is part of the first-look deal between Netflix and Dark Horse Entertainment, the team behind publishing the comics. This deal means that Netflix gets the first opportunity to look at a project and get the chance to put in the first offers to purchase or distribute the project. The two companies have had success in the past, with the most notable one as of late being the adaptation of The Umbrella Academy, another comic book series published by Dark Horse with its third season currently in production.
Other project collaborations between Netflix and Dark Horse include Jonas Åkerlund’s feature Polar, starring Mads Mikkelsen as well as the upcoming film adaptations of Mystery Girl (directed by McG, starring Tiffany Haddish) and Lady Killer (being written by Diablo Cody, starring and being produced by Blake Lively).
There has been no release window or casting announcement made as of this writing for the upcoming Dept. H series, so stay tuned to Collider for more news.